Our new cafe team is in full swing with preparations to open–arranging furniture, posting menus, cutting flowers, and concocting delicious (ideal for a rainy day) soup. Starting tomorrow, they’ll happily take your order, so be sure to stop by for a sneak preview. Tryst at the Phillips officially opens June 1.

Chalkboard menu and espresso machine. Photo: Amy Wike

Fresh-cut flowers for the tables. Photo: Cecilia Wichmann

Tryst at the Phillips with view of Barbara Hepworth's Dual Form in the courtyard. Photo: Amy Wike

Right now in São Paulo, Sandra Cinto is putting the finishing touches on ink and acrylic drawings on very large canvases. On Sunday she arrives in D.C., canvases in tow, and on Monday she begins the process of unrolling, stretching, and mounting them in our café before she begins drawing directly on the walls around them. When she’s done and One Day, After the Rain opens on May 19, I have a feeling that entering the café will feel like entering a deluge–undulating waves, sheets of rain, refreshing and invigorating.

Last month, Cinto opened another installation, Encontro das Águas (Encounter of Waters) at Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park. Watch the pavilion transform into an unbridled seascape in the time-lapse video below.